So I’ve heard it at a few places, most notably Bowdoin. I’ve taken the Bowdoin tour 5 times (mulitple kids), done one overnight visit…but never so much as completed an application.
My question…why would you doubt they can determine from your academic record, interviews, recommendations, etc. your ability and generally estimate what the test scores might have been? What do you think they get from 6 hours of testing that they can’t assess from four years of grades? Do you think only the kids with scores below the median submit them? When you’re rejecting 9 out of 10 kids, I would think you get a pretty good feel for the type of students who thrive in your community.
EDIT - FWIW I found this blog that says it makes a difference…especially at Bowdoin. It’s a bit dated, and I would suggest that the use of mean artificially supports the confirmation bias he was looking for…but his findings are that non-test students don’t perform as well. I’d also be interested to know how many of the non-submitters are athletes…but whatever. Enjoy…
https://blog.criteriacorp.com/dont-ask-dont-tell-the-new-rules-of-the-sat-and-college-admissions/